I Can Barely Say
by seasidehearts
Summary: After defeating Xehanort and his thirteen darknesses, Sora decides to continue to help those on other worlds rather than returning home with Riku and Kairi. When he returns home three years later, he has to figure out how to repair the relationships with everyone he had to leave behind. Sokai. Post-KH3.
1. Chapter 1

**Authors note: I'm not exactly sure how long this is going to be but I'm anticipating around three chapters or so. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own KH or the song "I Can Barely Say" by the Fray which was my inspiration for this fanfic. **

I CAN BARELY SAY

_I've been gone so long,  
I can barely say.  
All I know is now I wanna stay.  
Has it been too long,  
since I went away?  
Cuz I'm trying to find the words  
but I can barely say._

It'd been three years since Sora had been home and he couldn't have felt more uncomfortable. His mother, of course, was overjoyed to see him again and so far had not really asked any questions about his extended absence. As for the rest of the people he cared about, he wasn't sure if they'd be so happy. Not wanting to cause a scene by his arrival, he basically had to sneak back onto the island and into his own house.

The morning had come all too soon and now Sora had the blanket raised over his head to block out the sunlight. Having little luck, he tossed and turned, wishing he could fall back asleep.

Hearing a knock on his bedroom door, he questioned loudly, "Mom, aren't you going to be late for work? I'm okay, I'll make breakfast for myself later."

Receiving only silence in reply, he lifted the blanket off his head and stared curiously at the door. Finally, he heard a deep voice answer, "It's me, your mom let me in on her way out."

Sora's mouth fell open. "Riku?" He watched in shock as the door opened and the older boy walked into his room. He had gotten even taller and his hair was back to around the length it was before they first left the islands.

"Hey." Riku greeted, walking over to Sora's desk and taking a seat.

"…How did you know I was here?" The brunette stared up at him, confused and at a lack of words.

He laughed, "Nice to see you again, too." Pointing to the lamp on the desk and to the ceiling, Riku pointed out, "I saw your lights on last night. Your mom never comes in here when you're gone so… I figured it had to be you."

Sora sat up in his bed, smiling sheepishly, "Gotcha. And I am happy to see you… I just didn't know if you would be happy to see _me_."

"What makes you say that?" Riku stared at him intently, a bit confused himself.

"Just… I know it hurt you and Kairi that I decided to keep traveling the worlds and helping people instead of coming home with you two." He paused and looked down, a deep frown taking over his face, "…Does Kairi know I'm back too?"

He heard Riku shake his head, "No."

Sora let out a sigh of relief, "Good. I don't know what I'm going to say her. But I don't even really know what to say to you, either."

The older boy shrugged, "You did what you had to do, Sora." He gave him a reassuring smile, "We can't blame you for that. Though I won't lie, Kairi was really upset for a while. But not really at you, just at the fact that you weren't here. Sometimes it was directly at you… but that was only when she was really frustrated."

"What about now?" He pressed.

Riku's eyes flickered around the room, unsure of how to respond, "Don't get me wrong, she's missed you and she does probably want to see you. We've talked about you a lot. But… it's been a few years, Sora. She had to move on and keep living her life. She's been going to school at the university and she actually just moved into an apartment this past summer with Selphie." His mouth parting, he paused for a moment before finishing, "She's dated a few guys here and there too."

"Oh." Sora felt a pang of sadness in his chest, even though he knew that more than likely going to be the case, "I mean… I expected that. I knew she couldn't wait for me forever."

"I know it still hurts, though." Riku lightly touched his friend's shoulder, "Sorry."

Sora shook his head, "It's okay. We just kissed once; it's not like we were in a real relationship or anything."

Glancing down at his watch, Riku realized he had to get going, "I've got to get going to make it on time for my class, but listen. Don't let Kairi find out from me or someone else that you're here or that will make things really awkward with her. She doesn't go to the play island anymore but she hangs out by the dock where all the row boats are tied up sometimes in the afternoon. Let me know how it goes after you do talk to her."

The brunette gave a half-hearted smile, "Thanks. I'll keep that in mind."

Riku gave Sora a quick hug, "It is good to have you home, Sora. Don't over think everything and try to relax."

He hugged him back, laughing, "I'll try."

"See you later." Riku pulled away and waved at him before walking out of the bedroom and down the stairs.

Even though the situation with Kairi was still completely up in the air, Sora already felt immensely better knowing that he and Riku were on good terms. Finally feeling calm, he laid back onto his bed and let himself get a few hours of sleep.

After getting up, making lunch, and taking a shower, he was beginning to feel less and less out of place. Changing into fresh clothes, he was thankful he hadn't grown almost a whole foot like he had the first time he came back home so all of his clothes still fit for the most part. Now donning a white t-shirt and brown shorts, he sat back on his bed and contemplated whether he should try to see Kairi today or if he should give himself more time to think.

'_What am I gonna say? What am I gonna do?'_ He moved his hands up his face and through his hair in frustration. Every situation he pictured in his head ended up with her being upset with him or even just flat out refusing to talk with him and it crushed him. But at the same time, he was dying to see her. He missed her so badly every single day that he was gone, his heart felt like bursting the moment he landed on the islands knowing that he was so close to her again. If he wasn't so afraid of her reaction, he would have already found her by now.

'_I guess I still have a few more hours to figure out what I want to say before she's done with classes and heads to the dock._' He tried to reassure himself.

But several hours wasn't enough; he felt just as hopeless as he had been earlier that morning as he dragged his feet along the path towards the shore. He was thankful that his house was fairly close to the dock so that way he wouldn't run into anyone else on the way there. He was afraid if anyone else saw him that he might lose whatever little bit of bravery he had managed to build up and turn around and go home.

He stopped, closing his eyes and trying to relax. '_It's still Kairi. She's still your best friend, the girl you grew up with; there's no reason to be scared of her.'_ He repeated over and over inside of his mind.

Eventually he managed to continue to pull himself forward but the moment he caught sight of the dock and Kairi's unmistakable red hair, he froze again. She was looking out over the ocean, in her own little world and from what Sora could see, she seemed to have only gotten more beautiful since he left. She'd let her hair grow out a tiny bit more and although she was still fairly slim, she had gotten a little bit curvier as well.

He stared for a moment before starting to walk towards the dock in a daze, his throat tight and his mouth dry. He still had no idea what he was going to say and his heart was racing, making it harder to think.

He was halfway across the dock when he saw Kairi beginning to get up, seemingly not noticing him still. Just as she started to turn, he noted she had earphones on.

She nearly walked into him. "Oh," Kairi jumped back, surprised, "I'm sorry, I didn't—" She looked up, starting out with an apologetic smile that quickly fell into a look of shock. "S-Sora…" His name barely escaped her lips before her legs began to buckle underneath her. He gently caught her shoulders and guided her down before scooting backwards to give her breathing room. She glanced at him repeatedly but didn't ever hold eye contact, asking quietly, "You're really home?"

He nodded with a small smile, "Yeah."

"Wow, I just—" Kairi started but shook her head and quickly stood up, "I'm sorry, I-I have to go." She rushed past Sora, hiding her face.

Sora stood up as quickly as he could, reaching out to catch her shoulder, "Kairi, wait. Please..."

She shrugged him off, repeating, "I'm sorry." With that, she hurried off down the path towards the town.

Sora stared at the place she just was a moment ago, trying to let everything soak in. "Damn it…" He cursed himself and hung his head.

He wasn't even sure how he got home, all of a sudden he was just there and he was grateful to have his bed to collapse on. He wanted to bury himself underneath the blankets again before he remembered Riku told him to call.

Hesitantly he grabbed the phone off of the corner of his desk, dialing Riku's number.

"Hello?" His friend answered.

"She ran." Sora said quietly.

Riku paused, "What?"

"She ran." Sora repeated, his heart dropping even farther into his chest, "I used to always be wrong whenever I assumed stuff about Kairi so I wanted to believe you, but this time I was right. She didn't want to see me."

"Just slow down and explain what exactly happened." Riku spoke in a slow and calm tone.

Sora let out a frustrated sigh, "There's nothing to explain, Riku. I went down to the dock. She was staring out at the ocean and listening to music. She got up, almost bumped into me and started apologizing before she realized it was me. First she almost passed out and then she ran."

"She probably just didn't know how to react. It's been so long since she's seen you… She's probably just as scared as you are." He tried to console him before asking,, "I mean… how long did it take you to get the guts to go down there in the first place?"

"All afternoon." The younger boy answered truthfully.

"See? You had all afternoon to prepare yourself to talk to her. Maybe she just needs time too."

Sora fell backwards onto his bed, mentally and emotionally exhausted, "Maybe…"

Riku paused for a moment before suggesting, "Just wait a few days and then try to talk to her again. I'm sure she'll come around."

"Right." He nodded, "And Riku… thank you."

The older boy gave a small laugh, "No problem, Sora."

"See you sometime tomorrow?" Sora questioned.

"Sure. See you then." Riku answered before hanging up.

Putting the phone back on the charger, he heard a knock at his door, "Sora?"

"Yeah, Mom?" He called back and she let herself into the room.

She motioned towards the phone, "Getting reacquainted with everyone?"

Sora shook his head, "Just Riku. And well… I tried with Kairi."

"I'm sorry, sweetie." She bent down to hug him, "I'm sure everything will turn around soon."

He gave a small smile, "Thanks."

She let go and took a step back, suggesting, "I've got to start cooking dinner soon. Do you want me to bring it up here?"

Sora shook his head and waved her off, "No, no. It's okay. I'll be downstairs in a few minutes, I spent enough time today up here by myself." She smiled, lightly rubbing his shoulder before heading back downstairs.

The night went by a lot quicker with his mom and the TV distract him, but once she had gone to bed he found himself tossing and turning again. Occasionally he would fall asleep in short bursts, but that little amount of sleep made him feel worse when he would wake up again.

The next morning when his doorbell went off, he wasn't sure if he was dreaming or awake until he heard it again. Half asleep and blinking repeatedly to keep his eyes open, Sora dragged himself down the stairs and to his front door. Swinging it open, he greeted tiredly, "Hey, Riku."

Instead he saw Kairi nervously holding her hands together in front of her. "Can I come in?" She gave a little smile.

Sora stared at her, his mouth hanging open. Shaking himself out of it, he stepped out of the doorway to let her step in, "S-sure…"

"Thanks." She stepped in past him to take a seat on his couch.

'_Am I dreaming right now?_' Sora asked himself as he shut his front door. When he turned around again he saw Kairi staring at her lap, twiddling with the hem of her dress. When he sat down at the other end of the couch, she finally looked up.

"I'm really sorry about yesterday." She began, tucking a few strands of hair behind her ear as she spoke, "My brain just shut down… I couldn't believe you were actually there."

Sora shook his head, "It's okay. Don't worry about it. Listen…" He glanced around the room before locking his eyes on hers, "Kairi, I'm really sorry that I didn't come home with you and Riku after we defeated Xehanort. I just knew there was a lot that still had to be done on other worlds. I wanted to go back with you two so badly. And I spent so much of the first year wondering if I had really made the right decision. I know I did but I still know I hurt everyone… I hurt you."

Kairi looked down, "You did, but… you did it for the right reasons. Everyone will realize that. I was completely miserable when Riku and I first got home. But I realized as time passed how selfish it was of me to want you back just for my own reasons when you were out there helping a ton of people on multiple worlds." She let out a small laugh at herself.

"It's normal to wanna be selfish sometimes… I know I definitely wanted to, too." Sora moved a little bit closer to her, "Anyway, how've you been lately? Riku told me you've been going to the University."

She looked up, a little surprised but smiling, "Yeah. I'm majoring in art, thanks to Naminé. I hadn't really drawn anything in a long time before I met her so I had almost completely forgotten it was something I enjoyed doing. And of course, I didn't really have much time to dedicate it when we were out on other worlds so I only truly rediscovered it once I came back to stay. All of the classes are really fun and I love my professors too."

"Good, good." He nodded, smiling.

Tilting her head, she asked curiously, "Do you think you'll start taking classes soon?"

Sora scratched the back of his neck, "I'm still not exactly sure how exactly all of the high school stuff works out… I'm probably just going to have to get a job soon. Plus I'll still have to go off to other worlds here and there but nothing like I've been doing, it'll be really sparse."

"Oh." Kairi answered quietly, unsure of how to respond.

He racked his brain for something to say, eventually deciding on, "Um. What time do you have class? I don't want to make you late or anything."

She looked past him to glance at the clock, "Yeah, I do have class in thirty minutes so I probably need to start walking." She stood up and walked towards the door.

"Alright." He got up and opened the door for her, "I'll see you later."

"Sora." She looked up at him, a few tears threatening to fall from her eyes as she collapsed against his chest and wrapped her arms around him, "I'm really glad you're home."

"Me too." He hugged her as tightly as he could.


	2. Chapter 2

**This story's coming right along! I'm going to be getting really busy with school soon, though, so I dunno how long that will continue lol. To be honest, I spent a lot of time writing this chapter that could have been used on academic things instead haha. **

I CAN BARELY SAY

'_Cuz I've been gone so long,  
I can barely say.  
All I know is now I wanna stay.  
_

"It definitely went better than I expected, yeah." Sora nodded before frowning, "Now I just have to figure out how and when to tell her I'm still in love with her."

Riku gave a big shrug, staring at Sora from an arm chair on the other side of the living room, "You got me there. I guess just try to work up to it gradually; in the meantime, get reacquainted with everyone else on the island."

The brunette sprawled out on the couch, "Yeah and I gotta try to find a job sometime soon, too. Talked about that earlier with Kairi plus I told my mom I would as well if I didn't go back to school."

He raised an eyebrow, "You're not going to try and see if you can take classes?"

"I will but I just want to get used to being here again." Sora shut his eyes and cringed, adding, "Not to mention I could probably use some tutoring in just about everything before I try to take classes for real."

Riku leaned back, nodding, "Ah, yeah. I didn't really think about that. What would you study in school, anyway? Just curious."

The younger boy shook his head, "No idea about that either. So yeah, it's definitely the best thing to just try and get everything figured out before jumping into it." Looking up towards Riku he asked, "What are you studying? I think I forgot to ask."

"Business." He replied simply.

"Gotcha." Sora replied with a nod, "I can see you doing that." Getting up from the couch and motioning towards the door, he suggested, "I can walk with you half way to the university if you want. Since I have nothing better to do, I got assigned to go grocery shopping."

Riku stood up, walking towards the door, "Sure."

Once they had both walked out the door and Sora had locked it, they both started down the path into town. Sora started out walking casually before realizing Riku was walking at a much more brisk pace. Speeding up, he asked, "Did I keep you too late?"

"What?" Riku turned his head to look at Sora, "Oh, no. It's just kind of habit. Plus I like to be a bit early."

"Okay, good. Just making sure." He nodded with a small smile, "I know you're trying to help me feel comfortable again but I don't want you or anyone else to put me in front of all their other responsibilities. I'll be okay."

"I won't, school's definitely way more important than you." Riku teased with a tousle of Sora's hair.

Sora laughed, "You're joking but it's true."

The older boy shook his head, "School is really important but if there's ever a time where you really need me, you'd come first."

"Thanks, Riku." He gave a small smile, "I'd say I'd do the same for you but I don't have anything else important going on right now."

Riku laughed as well, "Don't worry. You will soon."

Coming up onto the entrance of the grocery store, Sora commented, "This is my stop. I'll see you later!" He waved.

"See ya." Riku waved back, continuing straight down the path and further into town.

"Hello!" The cashier greeted with a quick glance but didn't really look at him.

"Hey." Sora replied back, glad that they didn't really pay attention to who he was or else they would have caused a scene about not seeing him in forever. But of course that part would come anyway once he went to the cash register to check out.

Absent mindedly grabbing a cart, he dug in his pocket for the list his mom had given him. Unfolding it and reading over it, he commented to himself, "Alright, got it." Making his way through the maze of aisles he grabbed all of the things on his mom's list with a few improvisations.

When he made it back to the check-out line, it went exactly like he thought it would. "Sora! I heard from your mom that you were home but wow, you've really grown up since I last saw ya." The man greeted him as Sora started unloading all of the groceries.

"Hey. Yeah, it's been a while." He gave a small smile.

"Your mom's already got you back at work, huh?" The man joked as he scanned and bagged the groceries.

Sora shrugged, "Eh, it's the least I can do. I'd just be laying around the house otherwise."

"Ah, I see." He finished bagging the last of the groceries and hit a few buttons on the register, saying, "That'll be $42.50."

"Okay," Sora dug in his pockets and pulled out the $50 his mom had left on the counter for him that morning, "Here you go."

"Say hi to your mom for me." He requested as he handed the change back.

Sora nodded as he loaded up the grocery bags onto his arms, "Will do. Bye!" With that, he walked out of the store and started heading back towards his house until he heard a voice from behind him.

"Whoa! Sora, is that you?"

Spinning around curiously, he smiled as he saw Tidus, "Hey! Yeah, it's me. How's it going?"

"Good, good!" He grinned, "Man, I haven't seen you in _forever_."

"Yeah, I know… Sorry about that." He smiled apologetically, wanting to scratch the back of his neck but his hands were weighed down by the groceries.

Tidus shook his head vigorously, "Nah! Don't worry about it. What've you been up to since you've been back to the islands? Aside from, you know, that." He pointed at the groceries.

Sora laughed, "Not much… I've just hung around the house with my mom and Riku. Then I saw Kairi yesterday. I need to start looking for a job soon, though…"

"Hey, my dad could use some help at his construction company. That is if you don't mind working outside a lot—which I'm sure you don't, considering what you've been doing for the past few years." Tidus started to babble, "Unless you're tired of being outside too much—"

Sora cut him off, "Tidus." The blonde boy shut his mouth and stared at him intently as he continued, "That sounds great."

"Cool! Okay, just show up at the office tomorrow around 8. He'll find something for you to do." He motioned towards the town.

"Thanks! I really appreciate." Sora looked down at the bags on his arms, "Hey, I probably need to get home while this stuff is still cold but yeah, thank you again. I'll see you around."

Tidus grinned and waved as he started to walk off, "No problem! See ya."

The rest of Sora's trip home was fairly uneventful since most people were either at school or work, leaving the residential side of the island practically abandoned. Though once he was home, he noticed as he walked through the door that there was a message on the answering machine. "Huh." He commented to himself, wondering if maybe his mom had called him during her lunch hour to check and see if he had gone grocery shopping yet.

When he had gotten everything put up, he moved back to the front hallway and pressed the play button. Surprisingly, he heard Kairi's voice, "Hey, Sora. It's Kairi. Um, I was just wondering if you'd wanna maybe go watch the sunset with me like we used to do? I think it'd be a good chance to catch up a little more. So if you wanna come, I'll be back at my apartment around four o'clock. It's in the Bay Tree apartment complex and I'm in building 206 apartment D. Hope I see you then! Bye."

Sora smiled to himself, wandering into the living room to check the time. Seeing that it was almost two, he sprawled out on the couch and yawned, "Looks like I've got time to take a nap."

Waking up about an hour later, he scrambled to make sure that he looked at least somewhat presentable. After throwing on a fresh shirt and trying to tidy his hair (and failing), he was out the door. Kairi's apartment complex wasn't too far from his house but he walked a little bit faster to be on time. In the past, Sora was pretty much always late so Kairi was used to saying a time and not expecting him to show up until ten or fifteen minutes past. Having the chance for a fresh start, Sora was determined to change that.

Knocking on Kairi's door, Sora heard Selphie's voice call out in a sing-song voice, "Just a second!"

As the younger girl opened the door, he greeted cheerfully, "Hey, Selphie."

At first she was smiling but her face fell once she saw him. "Oh, it's you." She commented sourly.

Frowning, Sora stared down at his feet for a moment, unsure of how to react. Looking back up, he just asked, "Is Kairi home yet?"

"No. And you should go home, Kairi doesn't want to see you." Selphie crossed her arms.

Sora furrowed his eyebrows, "She was the one who invited me."

The younger girl looked surprised before firing back, "She had a temporarily lapse in judgment."

"Selphie, I don't—" Sora began with a sigh before he heard Kairi's voice from behind him.

"Selphie! I can't believe you." She glared daggers at her friend.

She glanced between Sora and Kairi, replying, "I can't believe _you_! I've seen you cry way too many times over him. I'm not letting you get hurt again."

Sora frowned, his heart sinking in his chest, ready to tell Kairi that Selphie was right until Kairi started talking. "It's my choice to work things out with him, okay? I'll talk to you later about this." She gently grabbed his wrist and pulled him towards the apartment, "C'mon, Sora. Come inside for a minute while I get changed."

"O-okay." He replied nervously, Selphie shooting him a disapproving look as she stepped out of the way and Kairi guided him to her bedroom. Closing the door behind them, they heard Selphie go to her own room and shut the door loudly.

Kairi looked up to him, frowning deeply, "I'm so sorry."

Sora shook his head, "Don't worry about it. She's just trying to be a good friend."

"Still. She didn't have to be so rude about it." She sighed before gesturing towards her bed, "You can sit down, if you want. I just definitely want to change into something new after walking back and forth around the island all day." She walked over to her closet.

He sat down on her bed, watching her and asking curiously, "You have to walk around that much for classes?"

"I have a job at the coffee shop too." She answered as she picked out a white dress, holding it in front of her as she turned back to him.

"Where's your uniform?" He tilted his head.

"There." She pointed to her backpack that she had dropped on the floor after they walked into the room, "Anyway, I'm gonna go change. Just hang tight."

He nodded, watching her go out of the room, "Okay."

Once she had closed the door behind her, he glanced around her bedroom. Much to his surprise, it wasn't that different from when she still lived with her parents. She still had a color scheme of pink, purple and white and a few of the same movie posters still decorated her walls. She also had a few photos posted to the wall but he wasn't quite brave enough to get up and look at that part of her life that he'd missed.

"You ready to go?" Kairi opened the door and peeked her head in.

"Yeah." He nodded, jumping up from the bed and heading towards her. Once Sora was out the door and could see Kairi's entire outfit, he felt his face begin to grow a little warm. She had put her hair up into a messy bun and he could now see that her white sundress actually was covered by tiny little blue flowers.  
"Kairi, you look really nice." He commented sheepishly.

They both heard a loud scoff from Selphie's room and Kairi rolled her eyes. "Thank you, Sora." She smiled brightly, "Let's get going." A small distance away from her apartment building, she sighed, "Again, I'm really sorry about Selphie. She's being so over dramatic."

Sora frowned again and started to drag his feet as they walked, "I guess you must have been really upset for a long time if she's reacting like this."

"I was… but you're here now, right?" She gave his arm a light touch, "Let's just focus on that right now. We'll talk about everything else sometime soon but tonight's supposed to be about fun, okay?"

With a small smile, Sora looked up at her and repeated, "Okay."

"Good." She smiled too and locked her hands behind her back as they walked. Letting a moment of silence pass by, she spoke quietly, "You know, I haven't been to the play island in a while."

"Neither have I." Sora replied jokingly and Kairi let out a small laugh, "But seriously, why not?"

She shrugged, "It just didn't feel right. It doesn't feel right alone and even when I went with Riku it just felt off. It really only feels right when I know all three of us are here at home."

He nodded along silently until they reached the row boats, "I would offer to take my boat but mine's kind of out of commission. Glad you took care of yours even though you haven't used it. By the way, I can still row, if you want."

Kairi stared at him for a moment before answering, embarrassed, "Oh, sure. Thank you."

"Not a problem." He went to go untie the boat from the dock, Kairi lingering where was and twiddling her fingers. Pulling it closer to the shore and holding it steady for her, he called out, "Here."

"Thanks." She climbed into the boat and sat down on the side that pointed towards the water.

Sora climbed in as well before dipping his hands back into the water and shoving off from the shore. Beginning to row, he said, "So… I got a job."

Kairi raised her eyebrows in interest, "That's great, Sora! Where is it?"

"Helping out Tidus's dad doing construction work. Probably working on houses, I think. I've helped out once or twice before without getting paid so it'll be cool to get money for it for once." He finished with a laugh.

She giggled, "I'm sure."

"By the way, how's your job at the coffee shop?" He asked curiously.

"It's good. It's kind of hectic sometimes, but overall I like it." She smiled, further explaining, "My coworkers are nice and most of the customers are too. Though, occasionally you'll get the really picky people or you'll get the people who are in a rush to get to work and take it out on you."

He smiled apologetically, "Ugh, I'm sure that sucks."

She nodded, "It can, but thankfully those incidents aren't super common."

"How badly do you have to bite your tongue sometimes?" He teased.

She laughed loudly, answering, "Oh, man. Really badly. I definitely can't talk to them like I do to you and Riku or I would get fired."

Sora grinned, pausing his rowing for a moment, "I figured. I guess I'm glad I won't really have to deal with customers face to face like you do."

She shrugged, "It has its perks, too. But the first couple of times I got rude people, it did really ruin my day."

"Yeah, I'm sure." Sora replied before commenting, "We're almost there, we'll be at the dock in a minute."

Kairi turned around to look at the island, obviously surprised, "Wow, that was fast!"

"We were talking pretty much the whole time." Sora said as he rowed the last few times before the boat's bottom hit the sand.

A light blush appearing on her cheeks, Kairi commented, "Your upper body strength from using the keyblade probably helps a lot, too."

Glancing at his arms before getting out to tie up the boat, he replied sheepishly, "I guess so."

Climbing on to the dock, she stood over him and watched him, adding, "That was one of the first things I noticed after coming home; how strong my arms were. But unfortunately that went away really quickly." She finished with a small laugh.

"It's good I'm doing construction work, then. Hopefully I can retain it for a little while." He pulled himself up onto the dock.

"Mhm." Kairi nodded as they walked towards the end of the dock and took their seats.

Looking out over the ocean for a moment, Sora turned back to see Kairi had a wide grin on her face. Amused, he asked, "What are you smiling about?"

"It almost feels like I'm in high school again." She continued staring out towards the ocean, swinging her legs back and forth, "Like nothing changed at all."

"Oh." He didn't know what to say, looking away from her and switching his focus to his feet, "Yeah, I guess so."

"Sora?"

He titled his head back up, looking at her attentively, "Hmm?"

Kairi smiled at him briefly before looking back out over the ocean again, seemingly hiding her face, "Did you ever watch the sunset while you were out on other worlds?"

"Sometimes, yeah." He nodded, "But the one here at home is definitely the best. It's way more beautiful than any of the others."

"Hmm… Is that so?" Kairi replied but he wasn't sure if she was just acknowledging his answer or if she was really asking.

Unsure of how to respond yet again, Sora looked down into the water for a minute before saying, "I think I'm gonna go in the water."

Kairi squinted, "Right now? Did you even bring swim trunks?"

"No." He shook his head, "But it wouldn't be the first time I swam in my clothes so why not. I haven't had the chance to do any swimming yet so it's just really tempting."

She studied him for a moment before shrugging, "I mean, I won't stop you if you really want to."

"Alright, I'm gonna go for it." He laughed, lifting his shirt and teasingly throwing it at Kairi.

She let out a squeak as the shirt covered her face, "Hey!" She quickly threw it down onto the dock and crossed her arms.

Sora laughed before jumping down onto the sand and then wading out into the water, "It's actually a pretty good temperature. Sure you don't want to join me?"

Kairi eyed him suspiciously but smiled, "Considering my options are A. swim in a white dress which is pretty much the same as option B. swimming in my underwear, I'm gonna have to say the answer is no. I'll take a rain check."

"Alright, but you're missing out." He laid on his back, letting himself float on top of the water.

She shook her head, "I'll be okay." Sora watched as she lifted her legs back onto the dock. She then stood and jumped down into the sand, continuing, "I'll just get my feet wet."

He raised an eyebrow suggestively, "That's how it always starts…"

Kairi rolled her eyes, "Shush. Unless you drag me all the way, I swear it's all I'm doing." Pointing a finger at Sora, she warned, "And don't you dare try."

He threw his hands up defensively, "I won't, I won't."

She stared at him intently, "Promise?"

He stared back for a moment, serious, before his lips curled upwards into a grin, "No, I can't promise."


	3. Chapter 3

**This story keeps expanding farther and farther as I write it so to be honest, I don't know how long it's going to be anymore haha but it's definitely going beyond my initial idea of three or four chapters. Hope you enjoy it so far!**

**Also I apologize in advance if I butcher Jecht's character. I kind of forgot Tidus actually had a dad in FFX and I never beat the game so I definitely wouldn't consider myself familiar with him. I did some research to refresh my memory but again, I apologize if he seems off the mark. **

CHAPTER THREE

_Has it been too long  
since I went away?  
Cuz I'm trying to find the words  
but I can barely say…_

Receiving a glare from Kairi in return, Sora continued, "Okay, I'll promise that I won't pull you in… but I won't promise that I won't splash you."

She rolled her eyes, smiling and coming a few steps closer to him, "I guess I'll take that." The waves now coming up to the hem of her dress, she commented, "You know, this might be one of the last weeks that the ocean's still warm. Fall's getting pretty close."

"I know." He sighed, returning to floating on his back, "I wish I would have come home earlier."

Kairi noticed he used the word 'would' instead of 'could' but decided not to linger on it for very long. Instead, she asked in a laugh, "Can you believe you're going to be twenty years old soon?"

"No," He tilted his head slightly to look at her, "Can you?"

She shook her head, smiling, "Not at all. But Riku's already twenty-one and he still seems like the same old Riku so I guess it's not so bad."

Sora blinked and paused, letting his feet drop down to the ocean floor. "Wow… I hadn't even realized that. I mean, I knew that; I knew that when I looked at the calendar on his birthday. But my brain never really transferred it over after seeing him in person again."

"By the way, you owe us a few birthday presents mister." She put her hands on her hips.

"Maybe I could actually afford that by the time your birthday comes around." He laughed, "We'll see how this job goes."

She looked down at her feet, splashing around the water absentmindedly, "I'm just teasing you."

"I know. But maybe I'll surprise you." He replied, repeating, "Maybe." Looking at the sky and over at the main island to see the street lights were coming on, he commented, "It's getting kinda dark. We should start heading back."

"Okay." She nodded, before squinting at him, "Wait, you're not going to splash me at all? I'm surprised after you made a big deal of not being able to promise you wouldn't."

Sora shrugged, wading over to the boat, "The sun's almost all the way down, you'll be shivering the entire time we're walking home if I did it now."

"…That's really considerate of you, Sora." Kairi commented in a soft voice as Sora brought the boat around for her, thinking that maybe he had grown up more than she thought he had.

He smiled sheepishly, holding the boat steady for her, "Uh, thanks, I guess."

"You're welcome." She replied as she stepped into the boat and took a seat.

Aside from the sound of Sora rowing, they shared a comfortable silence most of the way back to the main island; occasionally flashing quick smiles to each other.

After they had tied the boat up and started walking towards Kairi's apartment complex, she groaned, "Ugh, I have to start on a paper when I get home to and I really don't want to."

"We could go get something to eat first if you don't want to go home yet." He motioned towards town.

She shook her head smiling, "Thanks, but I've pushed this paper off one too many times already."

"Oh. I see how it is," Sora replied overdramatically, "You used me to avoid your paper."

Kairi rolled her eyes and shoved him playfully, "I definitely did not!"

"Yeah, yeah." He waved her off, "Whatever you say."

As they approached her door, she twiddled her fingers together, "Guess I have to go be productive now."

"And I guess I get to go home and lay around, doing nothing." Sora teased with a grin.

"Lucky you." She shook her head, "But you should try to go to bed early so you can be well rested to start your job in the morning."

Sora's eyes widened, "Oh yeah, that's right. Thanks for reminding me."

"No problem." She and Sora stood there for a moment, just staring at each other.

His eyes darted around to look at everything but her, wondering, '_Does she want me to make a move or what?_' Feeling nervous and awkward, Sora started to lean forward and shut his eyes before he felt Kairi's head against his shoulder and her arms loosely around his waist, "Hope your first day goes well. And see you tomorrow; same time, same place?" She questioned.

'_Guess not?'_ He thought to himself, confused. "Um, thanks. And yeah, sounds good. Good luck with your paper and… I would say to say bye for Selphie for me but I don't know if she wants to hear it." He hugged her back awkwardly.

She let go of him, groaning, "Yeah, I've still got to talk to her about that… Don't worry, though. She'll warm up to you again soon."

"Hope so. Anyway, I'll see you later, Kairi." He started to turn to leave.

"Bye, Sora." He heard her reply softly before knocking on the door to be let in by Selphie, who spared Sora from another snide comment even though he was still in ear-shot.

Glancing behind him, he watched Kairi disappear behind the closed door. '_I wonder if that was bad timing, or if she changed or mind, or she was avoiding a kiss_…' He stuffed his hands in his pockets, still damp from the ocean water.

When he reached his house, he opened and closed his front door loudly and announced, "I'm home!"

As he walked into the kitchen, his mom caught one glance of him and said, "I'm guessing you went to the beach."

Sora smiled sheepishly, "Yeah. Went to watch the sunset with Kairi. I'm assuming you saw I went grocery shopping, right?"

"I would joke that you took the $50 and went on a shopping spree somewhere but I don't think there's any shops here that have anything you like more than food." She tousled his hair.

"You got that right." He laughed, "Oh! By the way, I ran into Tidus after I went grocery shopping and I'm going to start working with his dad tomorrow morning."

She hugged him tightly, "That's great news, honey." Stepping back, she waved a finger, "Just make sure you're always paying attention while walking around; there's a lot of power tools running all around you."

"I know, I know; I will." Sora stepped backwards pointing towards the stairs, "I'm gonna go upstairs and change."

She nodded, moving back towards the sink and working on dishes, "Okay. I finished dinner a little while ago so you'll probably need to reheat it."

"Okay, no problem. Thanks!" He headed up the stairs, hearing her call back 'you're welcome'. Shutting the door and grabbing the first t-shirt and pajama pants he could see out of his dresser, he shrugged out of his wet clothes and changed into the new ones.

Once he was at the top of the stairs, his mom heard him and called up, "Did you hang up your wet clothes?"

Sora froze, slowly responding as he turned back towards his room, "…No." After hanging up his shirt, shorts and boxers on the towel rack in the bathroom, he headed down the stairs; slightly embarrassed. "Sorry, some old habits die hard I guess." He apologized as he passed his mom on the way to the kitchen.

His mom shook her head, "It's okay. I figured that one might slip your mind, but you have been really helpful lately. Don't put yourself down too much."

"Thanks. And… yeah, I'm really sorry I wasn't more helpful around the house when I was younger. Especially after Dad died and you had to do everything by yourself." He paused and looked up at her.

She gave a grateful smile, "It's okay Sora, you were a teenager. I'm glad that you got to have to have a lot of fun with your friends and go on your own adventures." Smirking, she continued, "But now that you're an adult, it's time to pay back your debts."

"Hey, I'm still a teenager for a few more weeks." He pointed out with a wave of his finger.

She laughed, "I guess you get to use that excuse for a little bit longer, then."

"Shouldn't have said that, I'm totally going to abuse it now." He grinned, heading into the kitchen to grab a plate.

As he scooped the leftovers onto his plate and popped them into the microwave, she replied with a snap of her fingers, "Oh well. A few more weeks won't kill me."

Sora laughed, taking out his reheated food and sitting down at the dinner table to continue the conversation with his mom. Once he had finished eating, he promptly washed his dish and headed upstairs to go to bed early as Kairi had suggested. Seeing that it was only 9:30 when he set his alarm, he figured he was going to have a hard time falling asleep that early.

But to his surprise, he fell asleep not long after his head hit the pillow. When his alarm went off the next morning, he still felt a little groggy but nowhere near the amount he would normally be feeling. '_Thanks, Kairi.'_ He thought to himself.

Rushing through his morning routine, Sora quickly headed out the door after his mom wished him luck on his first day. Making it to the office with fifteen minutes to spare, he nervously knocked on the door. Once it opened, he started to greet, "Hi, Mr.—"

"Sora; Tidus told me you were coming by. And no need to be so formal, just call me Jecht. After all, you're a man now." Jecht hovered in the doorway, neither inviting Sora in or stepping out.

"Err, right." Sora was unsure how to respond, not exactly used to being recognized as a 'man' as opposed to a 'young man' or 'boy'.

"If you're not quite a man yet, you definitely will be after a few weeks of work here." Jecht let out a deep laugh before stepping out of the door and closing it behind him, "Either way, you've definitely done a lot more than my boy has."

Sora bit his tongue. He didn't know much about what Tidus had been up to in the past few years, but in the past he'd always tried hard to please his dad and it never seemed to pay off. Sora assumed it was the same thing going on now and as much as it irritated him, he knew it definitely wasn't the right time or place to bring it up.

Motioning him forward, Jecht continued, "I'll let Wakka teach you the ropes since you two already know each other pretty well." They walked past a few houses that were close to being finished but had a few minor details left until they finally reached a house that was only three/fourths of the way finished. Pointing, he said, "He's probably around back. I'll let you get started."

"Thanks." Sora answered, already feeling unsure of this as Jecht began to walk away. Carefully edging his way around the house, careful to avoid any wires or cables on the ground, he eventually caught sight of Wakka.

Once the loud buzz of the miter saw that he was using had stopped, Sora greeted, "Hey, Wakka."

He looked up curiously before a large grin took over his face, "Sora! Nice to see ya. Tidus said you'd probably be around today."

Rounding the cutting table, Sora asked curiously, "So do you work here full time or just part time?"

"Full time; I use all the rest to practice blitzball. They make it sound like I'm not too far off from making the time, I just gotta keep at it." He grinned enthusiastically.

"That's great." Sora smiled as well.

"What about you?" Wakka motioned toward the younger boy, "You going to school too?"

The brunette shook his head, "Nah. It's too late plus I have quite a bit of catching up to do, so I'll be working full time as well for the next few months."

"Gotcha. Well, at least we've got each other and with you around, I'm not the newbie anymore so I appreciate it." Wakka laughed loudly and patted him on the back, "Guess we should get to it."

Sora laughed, "Guess so…"


	4. Chapter 4

**The story technically ends here, in a way, but the next chapter will be like a sort of epilogue thing. I also kinda want to write a prologue as well (about their first kiss and then also the separation) but we'll see about that. Hope you like it!**

CHAPTER FOUR

_I wanted to run,  
I wanted to love  
& be loved in return.  
But will I ever get back,  
do I know too much to return?_

His shoulders aching and his clothes covered in sawdust, Sora managed to drag himself across the island all the way to the dock where he found Riku and Kairi waiting.

"Hey," Sora greeted, out of breath and bent over slightly with his hands on his knees, "Glad you could make it, Riku."

The older boy tried to hold in a laugh but failed, "I could say the same to you. Jecht worked you too hard, huh?"

Sora shook his head, "More like Wakka. I saw Jecht for all of ten minutes." Riku walked closer to him and gave him a heavy smack on his back, to which Sora let out an audible, "Oww…"

Ignoring the questioning look that Kairi was giving him, Riku commented, "It's just a different kind of work than what you've been doing. You'll get used to it soon."

Stretching out and then rubbing his back, the brunette replied, "I hope so."

"So," Kairi stepped in between them, "You two ready to go?"

"Sure." Sora looked back and forth between her and Riku, "Who am I going to bum off of today?"

Kairi quickly pointed in Riku's direction who shrugged, "I guess I can pity you today. You should really get your boat fixed, though."

"I will, I will. Geez, Riku. You must have gotten used to me being around again since you're not being nice anymore." He stuck out his tongue.

Riku chuckled, "Something like that." Getting his boat ready, he added, "I'm not going to be able to stay for very long, though. So you're gonna have to catch a ride back with Kairi."

"I think I'll be recovered by then." Sora flashed a smile to her, "So I won't make you row back, promise."

"Thanks. But I will if I have too." She smiled back.

Once they had all gotten farther out into the water and Kairi was a bit behind them, Sora asked Riku, "So why do you have to leave early?"

"The sunset's been you and Kairi's thing for a while now, you know. Plus I'm sure you want some alone time with her." His eyes flickered over towards the red head as he responded in a low voice.

Sora glanced over at her too, but she was too focused on rowing to notice either of them. "I mean, I do." He answered honestly, "But I haven't seen you in three years, either."

"Yeah, but all's good between us." He replied back, "I'm not going anywhere and for the most part, you're not going anywhere. Or at least you'll be coming back here more often, so we'll catch up with each other. You and Kairi have more stuff you need to work out, so focus on her for right now."

The brunette gave a soft smile, "I guess you're right… and I dunno if I told you, but Selphie hates my guts for what I did to Kairi. I know Kairi seems okay with me at the moment but yeah, that still stung a bit."

"She's probably just being overprotective but either way, just ignore her. If Kairi's making the effort and wants to be around you, that's all that matters. Selphie will see that being around you makes her happy and she'll let it go." Riku consoled him.

Noticing that the islands was getting closer and Kairi would catch up to them soon, Sora replied, "I'm just worried that even if she's happy right now, it might not stay that way. But we can talk about it later. She's probably gonna overhear if I keep going."

"Gotcha." Riku nodded.

The two boys docked the boat and stood on the other side of the dock, waiting for Kairi. Once she had caught up with them, they all began to walk towards the little island with the paopu tree. "So what were you two chatting about the entire time?" She moved between them.

"Nothing much. Just how school's going and stuff." Riku replied right off the bat and Sora was extremely thankful. He was absolutely terrible at lying and Kairi would probably have known something was up if he answered. But Riku, as always, was calm, cool and collected.

"So how are your classes going, Riku? I feel like you're so busy I hardly ever see you for more than five minutes." She asked curiously.

He laughed, "I could say the same about you. They're going well but they're definitely not getting any easier, that's for sure."

"I know the feeling." She sighed, "But I still have enough time to come out here and hang out with you two, so I guess I can't complain too much."

Pausing, Sora asked quietly, "Do you think there'll be a point where you can't anymore?"

Kairi shrugged, "I mean… I'll always come if I can. But I'm sure there's going to be some days where I have to be somewhere else."

"And the same goes for me." Riku echoed as they crossed the bridge and reached the paopu tree.

"That's good." Sora let out a sigh of relief to himself, "But come to think of it… I guess there'll be times when I'm not here either. But it's okay, that just means I have to just appreciate the time I have with you guys even more."

Everybody took their usual spots as Riku replied with a nod, "Right."

"So what sort of adventure should the three of us plan for next? Pretty much everything is been there, done that." Kairi swung her legs back and forth.

A smirk took over Sora's face as he turned to her, "I dunno, but I hope you have more realistic expectations for how much food we'll need."

Kairi let out a gasp and playfully slapped his shoulder, "Shut up! It's not like you two argued with me about it."

"Hey, Sora. I recall Kairi having to remind you that we needed fresh water and not salt water, so you can't talk much." Riku chimed in.

"Oh yeah? Well you—you…" Sora tried to snap back at him, but failed, "Damn. I can't think of anything."

Riku laughed and crossed his arms, "Yeah, cuz I was constantly working on building the raft unlike you two slackers."

Sora had slumped his shoulders in defeat before Kairi pointed out, "But you managed to find time to swordfight and race Sora."

"Touché." Riku nodded in acknowledgement while Sora felt his face grow a little warm, remembering the deal that he and Riku had made.

Of course the whole thing seemed extremely stupid now, especially since they hadn't even asked Kairi how she felt about the whole thing. She probably would have smacked them both if she had found out they'd essentially bet on her.

The trio continued to pick on each other, bringing up moments that they each remembered fondly and ones that made the cringe until they laughed it off. There were never any awkward silences, despite the time that they had spent apart and that, more than anything, made Sora feel like he was truly at home again.

"I thought of the next adventure." Sora commented suddenly.

Curious, Kairi stared at him, "And what's that?"

"Just growing up; becoming adults." He answered softly, "That's crazy enough on its own."

Kairi let out a little laugh and looked back out into the ocean, "True."

"On that note," Riku stood up straight, "I guess I need to get home and get some work done."

"I just turned in a paper today so I'm free." Kairi stretched her arms out excitedly.

"Rub it in, why don't you." Riku rolled his eyes jokingly, "Anyway, I'll see you two later."

They both gave small waves, "Bye, Riku." "See ya!"

Noticing the sun was really low in the sky, Sora realized Riku actually stayed later than he thought he would. "It's going to be completely dark by the time we reach the main island, even if we left right now." He pointed out.

Kairi shrugged, still looking out at the ocean and the sunset, "It's okay. Since I moved out of my parents' house, I don't have a curfew anymore."

"Right." Sora nodded with a small laugh, "But still, is there a certain time you wanna be home by?"

"Not really. Just as long as it's before midnight so I can get some sleep." She replied with a turn to him.

"I definitely need sleep too, so not a problem." He smiled before asking curiously, "But do you think we'll really be out until midnight?"

Kairi's face fell as she looked back out into the water, "Well, you know how yesterday I said I wanted to talk about everything later? I don't want to push it off too long so I'd rather just get it over with… if that's okay with you."

Sora's eyes widened and his lips parted, "Oh." Letting out a breath of air, he answered, "Yeah, that's fine."

"I guess I'll start since you've asked me from the beginning." Kairi let out a deep breath of air as well, continuing, "When Riku and I first got home, I was just in shock. I knew deep down inside what you meant when you said you weren't coming home for a while, but I wanted to believe that maybe that meant a few weeks. Or even a few months. But time kept going on and on and the pain just grew deeper and deeper the longer that you weren't here."

Sora's frown deepened as he noticed Kairi's fists were now clenched and he saw tears threatening to fall from her eyes. "Everything we'd been through and even you just started to seem like a dream." She held her hands in front of herself, "I used to summon my keyblade almost every night to try and remind myself that everything was real and that you were coming back. And sometimes I wished that if I kept summoning it, maybe something would happen and I'd find some way to try and get to you instead."

"Kairi…" He wanted to touch her shoulder or just comfort her in some way, but he wasn't sure if that would only make her more upset.

"Eventually I just not to think about you, so I started dating other guys…" She admitted quietly, "But that didn't work for obvious reasons. They would always get fed up after a few days or a week at most. I did manage to have one somewhat healthy relationship, but that just dissolved too. We were better as friends. Anyway… I had thought I had forgiven you and accepted the reasons of why you couldn't come home. But seeing you again for the first time just made me feel everything all over again and then I felt guilty for all of the things that I had done to try and get over missing you all at once. And to be honest, I had only just gotten used to the idea of you not being around, so needless to say it was overwhelming."

He smiled sheepishly, trying to let that all sink in, "Yeah, I would say so."

Kairi motioned towards him, "And now it's your turn."

"Honestly, there's not a whole lot to tell." He answered honestly, "I did get to see some new worlds, but I spent a lot of time revisiting others. Heartless were pretty few and far between, I was just basically making sure that worlds were rebuilding themselves and not running into issues with any inhabitants who got funny ideas. But if I wasn't busy doing something, more than likely I was staring at your good luck charm. I thought about you all the time. I mean, I thought about everybody here at home but it's just with you, there were just so many things still up in the air."

Kairi was quiet for a moment before she asked jokingly, "No other girls?"

He smiled and shook his head, "No other girls."

Kairi laughed nervously, looking down twiddling her fingers, "Wow, I feel kinda even worse about that now."

"Don't." Sora replied quickly, causing her to look up.

"It's not disappointing or weird for you at all?" She questioned.

Sora shook his head again, "Not really. I was still your first kiss." Pausing and laughing sheepishly, he added, "Plus I didn't have to see you with anyone else so… that makes it easier."

Kairi giggled a bit before sliding closer to him and calling, "Sora."

"Hm?" He watched her intently.

"I love you." She placed her hand over his, "I've known that for a long time now. But I've been too scared to say it. I thought about saying it in the moment before Riku and I were separated from you but it didn't feel right. And now I'm glad I waited, because this definitely feels right."

Sora beamed; all of the guilt and worry that he had built up over the past three years all vanished within that instant. "I love you too." He shifted and Kairi expected that he was leaning in for a kiss, but instead found him dropping from the paopu tree onto the ground. Lightly grabbing her hands and slightly kneeling, he spoke softly, "You already know that I'll still have to leave home sometimes, but I promise that I'll always try to come back as soon as possible. You've done way more than enough waiting."

"I appreciate it, but don't rush yourself. I don't want you to get hurt." She looked down at him with a small smile.

"Of course." Sora nodded, adding, "And whenever you're free, you and Riku could always come with me too. I know it's a little complicated because of your jobs on top of school but just throwing it out there."

She held onto his hands as she slid off of the paopu tree and joined him on the ground, "That sounds great." She took a step closer and motioned for him to let go of her hands.

"Heh." He laughed nervously as he complied, her arms moving up to wrap around his neck. Once he had his arms lightly around her waist, he opened his mouth to say something else but Kairi quickly shushed him and guided him down to her.

It was a little awkward at first, Sora only faintly remembering what their kiss was like before, but Kairi was patient. Once they had developed a rhythm that worked, the kiss quickly intensified. As Kairi parted her lips to give him entrance, Sora held her tighter almost in desperation. He had missed her for so long and it was one thing to say it, but he was starting to think that this was a much better way of expressing it. Kairi's hands had since moved to Sora's hair, running through it and occasionally stopping to pull him even closer till the point that there was no longer a gap between them.

Eventually she was the one to break the kiss, resting her head on Sora's chest as she tried to catch her breath. Sora, however, continued to pepper a few more kisses on her forehead and on her cheeks which caused her to go into a short giggling fit. "You don't know when to stop, do you?" She looked up at him with a wide smile.

He kissed her one more time, answering, "No." Pausing for a moment, he asked, "Since you made it sound like you don't want to go home until later tonight, how about dinner since you blew me off yesterday."

Kairi rolled her eyes with a laugh, "I didn't blow you off, I had a paper to write; remember?"

"Same difference." He replied jokingly, retreating his arms backwards a little bit but keeping his hands on her sides as he asked, "So?"

She looked up in thought, as if she were debating the options in her head. "I dunno, that means I have to be seen in public with you. I was hoping this whole thing would be kinda secret." She replied in a teasing manner.

"Oh, I see how it is." Sora played along, his arms dropping back to his side as he turned, "I guess I'll be going, then." He took a few steps towards the bridge before Kairi caught one of his wrists.

"I'd love to." She answered seriously, slipping her hand into his.


	5. Epilogue

**Guess this is it! I still plan on doing a sort of prologue, but I'm going to include it as a drabble in my collection "Sea and Sky" since it'll probably be really short. I really enjoyed writing this so thank you to everyone who's read it!**

EPILOGUE

Winter had fallen upon Destiny Islands and Sora couldn't stand it. He was already wearing three layers, but the wind cut through him as if he were wearing nothing. The only time he could get over his hatred for cold weather was if snow was involved, but the islanders were lucky if they saw a few snowflakes every few years.

As he pushed the door open of the coffee shop, he heard the bell over his head ring immediately followed by Kairi calling out, "Got your hot chocolate already!"

"Thank you." Sora answered, over dramatically chattering his teeth as he approached her.

He wanted to immediately reach for the hot chocolate, but Kairi slid it backwards and waved a finger, "Ah, ah, ah."

"Ugh." Sora groaned as he dug through his pocket for his wallet and pulled out a few dollars, "Here."

Kairi smiled playfully and slid the drink back towards him, winking as she said, "Thank you, sir."

He shook his head his head at her, trying to ignore her teasing. She had absolutely insisted that she didn't want to be kissed while on the clock, but she always did her best to try and make him break that rule anyway.

They had been going out for a few months now and were extremely happy, but that hadn't come without its bumps along the way. About a month into their relationship, Sora had received his first assignment from King Mickey since returning home. Even though they had talked about it, it hit Kairi much harder than she anticipated. After Sora had broke the news, he spent a good portion of the night sitting on her bed and holding her as she cried.

He coordinated with Selphie so that he could wait in her living room for her to come home from school once he returned. At first, Selphie was still a little hesitant, but they quickly worked it out as they worked together to surprise Kairi. When Sora was gone, she would still head down to the dock on the main island to watch the sunsets so Selphie had asked her the previous night if she would just come straight home so that they could go out to dinner together.

Kairi called out for Selphie as she walked in through the door, but quickly let out a small squeal followed by laughing. She dropped all of her things on the floor and left the door wide open, running over to Sora and clinging to him tightly. After that, it got easier with each time Sora had to leave. She didn't like it, still, but it was easier at least.

Now that school was out for winter break and Sora had little to no work to do for Jecht due to the cold weather, the trio planned a group trip. Of course, they still had to do work while they were out on another world, but it was definitely a good change of pace for all three of them.

"Do you have the gummi ship packed up and everything?" Riku asked as Sora approached the table where he was sitting.

"Of course. Why wouldn't I?" The brunette raised an eyebrow.

Riku nodded suggestively in Kairi's direction, "You've got more distractions now."

Sora rolled his eyes, "Psh, she's so hyped for this trip that there's hardly any 'distractions' to be had. It's all she thinks about and she practically had her bag packed from the day that I asked her about it."

The older boy chuckled, "Wow. She's that excited, huh?"

"You have no idea." Sora replied before sipping his hot chocolate, glad that Kairi had made it earlier so it didn't scorch his tongue. "But I'm pretty excited that you guys are finally coming with me, too. I haven't had Donald and Goofy with me on the last few assignments so it's been pretty lonely."

"I'm excited, too." Riku replied with a soft smile, "Being at home for a while after being gone for so long was nice, but it's about time to get off this island again."

They didn't even hear Kairi walk over to the table until she cleared her throat. They both looked up to her, her work apron draped over one of her shoulders and she waved for them to get up, "So, let's go boys!"

"At least let me finish my hot chocolate before you make me go out there again." Sora pouted.

"You could have been done by now if you weren't complaining to Riku about me." She pointed out, placing her hands lightly on his shoulders.

Sora gave a nervous smile while Riku shook his head and commented, "You dragged yourself into that one."

Not responding, he took a gulp of the hot chocolate before suggesting, "You know you can sit down."

"Nope. I want to get going as quickly as possible." Kairi rubbed his shoulders, teasing, "So hurry up."

"Pushy, much?" He joked back and felt her grip tighten, "Ow, ow, ow. Okay, okay. I'll hurry." Sora took a few more drinks before announcing, "I'm done. Happy?"

She released his shoulders and grabbed his empty cup, humming, "Mhmm." Once she had tossed it in the trash, she intertwined her fingers with his and pulled, "C'mon!"

The three of them exited the coffee shop and started heading towards the other end of the island where the gummi ship was docked. Though Sora was still a tiny bit miserable out in the cold, Kairi's warmth definitely helped him handle it better. But not enough that he wouldn't complain. "I'm really glad we're going to a world that's already in spring. I'm already tired of this winter stuff."

"I know we live on an island, but we've still got to go through all four seasons, you know." Riku laughed, "Plus a lot of places have it worse."

"I know. But still, I'm glad I get to escape it at least for a little bit." He grinned in response.

Soon enough they had reached the gummi ship, Riku boarding it first. Sora started walking forward but found himself tugged backwards by Kairi. "What's up?" He looked at her curiously.

She smiled and shook her head, "Nothing, I just wanted to thank you again for setting all of this up."

"I told you I would." He reminded her, gently swinging their arms back and forth.

"I know." Kairi pulled her hand away from Sora's to wrap her arms around him, leaning in to kiss him. Sora obliged, one of his hands reaching up to cup the side of her face as his lips brushed over hers.

Between kisses, Sora asked with a smirk, "What happened to leaving as quickly as possible?" Kairi made a noise of annoyance but gave no verbal response, causing him to laugh.

Kairi pulled back from him, "Alright, I guess it's time to go, smarty pants."

Sora laughed again, smiling widely as he said, "I love you."

"I love you too." She hugged him tightly, "But we should get going before Riku leaves without us."

"I'm sure he's considered it already." He replied as they connected their hands again and made their way for the gummi ship.


End file.
